Williams, Rowan Douglas (1950-…), served as the 104th archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012. The archbishop of Canterbury is the spiritual leader of the Church of England and of the Anglican Communion, one of the largest Christian traditions in the world. During his career in academics and the church, Williams has gained a reputation as an important intellectual and theologian who communicates well with a broad segment of society.
Williams was born on June 14, 1950, in Swansea, Wales. He studied divinity at Cambridge University, receiving a B.A. degree in 1971 and an M.A. degree in 1975. He also studied theology at Oxford University, receiving a Ph.D. degree in 1975 and a D.D. (doctor of divinity) degree in 1989. Williams was ordained a deacon in the Church of England in 1977, and a priest in 1978. He taught at Cambridge from 1980 to 1986, and at Oxford from 1986 to 1992. In 1992, he became bishop of Monmouth in the Church in Wales, the Anglican church in Wales. In 2000, he became archbishop of Wales, one of the head bishops of the Anglican Communion. He served in that post until he began his term as archbishop of Canterbury in 2002. After resigning in 2012, Williams was appointed master of Magdalene College, Cambridge.
Williams’s published works on theology and poetry include The Wound of Knowledge (1979), The Truce of God (1983), Arius: Heresy and Tradition (1987), Teresa of Avila (1991), On Christian Theology (1999), and Poems (2002).
See also Archbishop of Canterbury .
